Tag: orthomolecular medicine

Treating Mental Illness with Nutrition: The Walsh Protocol

The Walsh Institute offers the Walsh protocol for the nutritional treatment of mental illness. This "orthomolecular psychiatry" is not supported by any clinical studies.

/ May 28, 2019

Dr. Joel Fuhrman Sells Useless Iodine Test

Joel Fuhrman is selling an overpriced iodine urine test that is not valid for testing individuals. Patients may be led to believe they are iodine deficient when they are not. Iodine supplements on the market vary widely including orthomolecular doses, and they make unsupported claims that mislead customers.

/ March 27, 2018

Cancer quackery from Germany to Australia

Sadly, cancer quackery is a worldwide phenomenon. Here, we examine its reach from Germany to Australia.

/ November 4, 2016

A “Natural Cure” for Eczema Leaves a Young Child in Agony…..

A short post today, for me at least, but an important one to file away for the next time somebody asks “What’s the harm?” during a discussion on the use of irregular medicine in the care of pediatric (or any) patients. The case The September 2015 issue of Pediatrics in Review, the official American Academy of Pediatrics source for continuing medical education,...

/ September 25, 2015

Beyond the flu shot: A closer look at the “alternatives”

Once again, it’s influenza season. The vaccine clinics are open, and the hysterical posts about the vaccine’s danger are appearing in social media. There’s familiarity to all of this, but also a big new change – at least in Canada, where I am. Pharmacists can now administer the vaccine. And it’s completely free to anyone in Ontario (where I am), so the...

/ December 5, 2013

Pyroluria and Orthomolecular Psychiatry

I have previously written about psychomotor patterning – an alleged treatment for developmental delay that was developed in the 1960s. The idea has its roots in the notion of ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny, that as we develop we progress through evolutionary stages. This idea, now largely discredited, was extended to the hypothesis that in children who are developmentally delayed their neurological development could...

/ February 29, 2012

On the “individualization” of treatments in “alternative medicine,” revisited

As I contemplated what I’d like to write about for the first post of 2012, I happened to come across a post by former regular and now occasional SBM contributor Peter Lipson entitled Another crack at medical cranks. In it, Dr. Lipson discusses one characteristic that allows medical cranks and quacks to attract patients, namely the ability to make patients feel wanted,...

/ January 2, 2012